Will Rory McIlroy be playing for Team GB or Ireland at the 2016 Olympics in Rio? Will the British elite like Ian Poulter be happy sharing rooms in the Olympic Village? Will players wear the Adidas Team GB cap when so many have lucrative deals in place with other manufacturers? Will all the caddies turn up for nothing?

Just some of the questions that are now the responsibility of the man who beat more than 40 other applicants to be named manager of Team GB when golf re-enters the Olympic fold in two years’ time.

And so when he wasn’t overseeing the startling short game improvements he’s instilled in Tommy Fleetwood, or practising his own game for the European Senior Tour, Jamie Spence was wandering up and down the driving range in Abu Dhabi last week and making people aware of his new posting.

Rio, here we come: Jamie Spence has landed the plum job of Team GB's golf manager for the 2016 Olympics

Lean on me: Rory McIlroy talks to his fiance, Caroline Wozniacki, after losing out in Abu Dhabi on Sunday

Big decision: McIlroy must choose whether to represent Britain or Ireland at the Olympics in two years

We may as well start with the toughest question of all. How well does he know Rory and is he intent on a bit of arm-wrestling?

‘Who wouldn’t love to have Rory in his team?’ he said, smiling. ‘I will certainly be talking to him, that is for sure. But I think we all respect the incredibly difficult position he is in, and that this is a decision that has to come from him. As I said, I’d be the first to welcome him if he does decide to play for us, but I’ll also be the first to wish him all the best if he plays for Ireland.’

The 50-year-old Englishman confesses to being a little nervous as to the reaction of players used to all possible creature comforts being asked to ‘rough’ it in the Olympic Village.

‘There is some talk of a hotel, to be honest, but if I was a player who had made this team I’d want to embrace the whole experience,’ he said. ‘But will our top players feel the same way? In fact, are they interested in playing in the Olympics at all, with everything else going on in the crowded golf calendar? Those are the sort of conversations I will be having over the next few months.’

Heard the one about staying in a shared room, Ian? English star Poulter could be in line for the Games

Party time: The Olympics is heading to Rio de Janeiro in 2016 when golf will be played at the Games

One good thing about golf being back in the Olympics is the welcome boost it will surely give the women's game. ‘I think that’s going to be one of the really nice things about the job,’ said Spence. ‘It’s a real chance for the leading British women to put themselves on the wider sporting map and I’m looking forward to doing what I can to help.’

The selection criteria has yet to be finalised but is expected to be based on the world rankings, with Spence likely to be in charge of an eight-strong team of four men and four women, competing in two 72 hole events.

He has been encouraged by the initial reaction. ‘The caddies have been telling me how much they’re looking forward to it, even though they won’t be paid, and I have had a good response from the players I have spoken to so far,’ he said.

As an ex-chairman of the tournament players’ committee, and a former tour winner in his own right, Spence is certainly amply qualified. Let’s hope the stars give him the support he deserves.

Great Scott

A villa on the market for £4million in Abu Dhabi comes with one unique selling point: a round of golf with the owner. Given the seller just happens to be the current Masters champion, it’s not a bad marketing ploy.

The villa next to Saadiyat golf course was bought by Adam Scott in 2008, and comes with all the luxury items you would expect plus two maid’s rooms and, naturally enough, ‘a room for the driver.’ That’s the human variety, presumably.

Despite owning it for six years, Scott has never lived in it. Who has a house worth £4m and never uses it? Peter Alliss once said the top golfers are now so rich they live like movie stars and here’s another example.

C'mon Aussie: Adam Scott is the reigning Masters champion following his unforgettable triumph last April

Room with a view: Scott's Saadiyat Beach villa is up for sale for a cool £4m... but includes a round of golf

It's a hard knock life: The Masters champion has never actually lived in his Abu Dhabi mansion

Casey's girl set to make a Splash

Paul Casey is giving the Qatar Masters a miss this week in order to attend the latest edition of the less than highbrow television show Splash on ITV on Saturday night.

Casey’s glamorous fiancée, television presenter Pollyanna Woodward, is among the contestants. ‘I’m not allowed to talk about what dive she is going to do but I can promise it will be spectacular,’ says Casey, whose own career has come out of a rather spectacular nose dive since hooking up with fearless Polly.

You hate to be so arrogant as to tell 63 per cent of voters they went for the wrong man, but let’s have a bash, shall we? In a recent poll on the European Tour’s website, that many people declared Henrik Stenson’s prodigious blow on the 18th hole in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai last November as their shot of the year for 2013 (CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SHOT).

True, it was a real crowd-pleaser, finishing inches from the hole for a tap-in eagle. But shot of the year? Stenson was so far ahead he had already won the tournament. He admitted afterwards he actually pulled the shot, which is why it flirted with danger before finishing so close.

Poll-winner: Henrik Stenson was back in action at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship last week

A far better blow was surely Justin Rose’s on the 18th at the United States Open. Not only was the tournament on the line, his whole career had practically been preparation for the four iron he simply had to pull off. So much at stake then, but the ball never left the flag for a second. Ok, it finished 30ft away. But the only reason it didn’t finish as close as Stenson’s shot in Dubai is they don’t have soft greens at the US Open.

The Swedish gent was a deserved winner of many awards last year. But he shouldn’t have won this one.

Moment of a lifetime: Justin Rose hits his laser-guided four iron from the 18th fairway at Merion

Final series solution is no closer

No 1: Henrik Stenson claimed glory in the European Tour's Race to Dubai last year but not everybody was happy with the Final Series schedule

Members of the European Tour’s players committee were specifically told not to comment on matters that went on during their meeting in Abu Dhabi last week. But my sources tell me a good deal of the meeting was spent talking about what changes, if any, to make to the structure of the tour’s Final Series.

This, you will recall, was the four event series that closed out the season, comprising two events in China, one in Turkey and the last one in Dubai. Many of the top players were unhappy at being made to play in two of the first three at the end of a long season in order to qualify for the grand finale.

Rebels like Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and Charl Schwartzel simply downed tools, and so didn’t make it to the grand climax in the Middle East which, in turn, left the sponsors of the DP World Tour Championship feeling slightly short-changed.

So what’s the solution? Is it right the
top players should call all the shots and be free to play where they
choose? Or do you protect the interests of four big-money sponsors by
insisting the superstars show some commitment and responsibility?

It’s easy to see the argument from both sides and so not surprisingly, after much debate, the matter went unresolved, with officials left to go away and try to come up with a halfway house that keeps everyone happy.

Quote of the week

‘It’s
still Team Reed, and he proved the perfect replacement. They’re brother
and sister and their demeanour is the same. They don’t get too high and
never get too low.’

As
far as American Patrick Reed is concerned, there’s nothing like keeping
it in the family. When his wife, who caddies for him, became pregnant,
Reed turned to his brother-in-law Kessler to carry the bag – and you
could say it worked, as he completed a comfortable victory in the Humana
Challenge on the PGA Tour on Sunday.

Two years ago Reed was outside the
world’s top 1,200. Now the 23-year-old rising star is inside the
all-important top 50.